1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing device and a printing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a technology of rearranging image data pixel by pixel in accordance with an ejection order of ink from a head, for the purpose of improving the print speed control in an ink jet printing device (e.g. see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-183884).
On the other hand, in the printing system of recent years, an upper level device for generating the image data may be provided separately from a printing device for printing the image data, so as to shorten the time for generating the image data and thereby improving the print speed. In the printing device of this system, an installation number of printer engines may be changed. In the case of changing the installation number of printer engines, a head from which ink is ejected also changes, and thereby the ejection order of ink also changes.
Therefore, if the technology disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-183884 is applied to the printing device of this type, there is a need to remake or adapt the printer engines in accordance with the installation number of printer engines. Specifically, there is a need to prepare a printer engine for rearranging the image data in accordance with the ejection order of ink depending on the installation number, for each the installation number of printer engines. Therefore, the scalability is limited.